press vs shoehorn

press

verb
  • To force to a certain end or result; to urge strongly. 

  • To hasten, urge onward. 

  • To lay stress upon. 

  • To throng, crowd. 

  • To force into service, particularly into naval service. 

  • To flatten a selected area of fabric using an iron with an up-and-down, not sliding, motion, so as to avoid disturbing adjacent areas. 

  • To urge, beseech, entreat. 

  • To reduce to a particular shape or form by pressure, especially flatten or smooth. 

  • To compress, squeeze. 

  • To activate a button or key by exerting a downward or forward force on it, and then releasing it. 

  • To try to force (something upon someone). 

  • To exert weight or force against, to act upon with force or weight; to exert pressure upon. 

  • To clasp, hold in an embrace. 

  • To drive or thrust by pressure, to force in a certain direction. 

noun
  • A printing machine. 

  • Pure, unfermented grape juice. 

  • An exercise in which weight is forced away from the body by extension of the arms or legs. 

  • In personology, any environmental factor that arouses a need in the individual. 

  • An instance of applying pressure; an instance of pressing. 

  • A publisher. 

  • The print-based media (both the people and the newspapers). 

  • A commission to force men into public service, particularly into the navy. 

  • An additional bet in a golf match that duplicates an existing (usually losing) wager in value, but begins even at the time of the bet. 

  • An enclosed storage space (e.g. closet, cupboard). 

  • A device used to apply pressure to an item. 

shoehorn

verb
  • To force (something) into (a tight space); to squeeze (something) into (a schedule, etc); to exert great effort to insert or include (something); to include (something) despite potent reasons not to. 

  • To use a shoehorn. 

  • To force some current event into alignment with some (usually unconnected) agenda, especially when it is fallacious. 

noun
  • A smooth tool that assists in putting the foot into a shoe, by sliding the heel in after the toe is in place. This reduces discomfort and damage to the back of the shoe. By slipping it into the back of the shoe behind the heel, the user prevents the heel from squashing down the back of the shoe and causing difficulty; instead the heel slides down the smooth shoehorn, which then comes out easily once the foot is in place. 

  • Anything by which a transaction is facilitated; a medium. 

How often have the words press and shoehorn occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )